I. Purpose and Scope

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) has revised the Crediting Foods in CACFP guide. The Crediting Foods in CACFP guide changes discussed below, take effect January 2014 . The new guide supports the Healthy Infant, Child and Adult Meal Patterns (2009) as well as the nutrition requirements of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. We encourage you to plan meals with a variety of whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats, legumes and low-fat dairy products.

In a separate mailing, you will receive enough copies for all of your participating centers. This version replaces any previous versions, which should be discarded. Be sure that all staff have access to the new guide. It is also available on our website at www.health.ny.gov/cacfp. The following link, http://nydontraining.health.state.ny.us/crediting_foods_presentation will take you to a tutorial on how to use the new Crediting Foods in CACFP guide.

II. Background Information

Each food component list is divided into three sections:

Recommended - These are healthy food choices that are creditable and are encouraged.

Not Recommended but Allowed - These are less healthy food choices that are creditable but should be served only occasionally.

Not Allowed - These foods are not creditable and do not count toward meeting the CACFP Healthy Meal Pattern requirements.

III. Summary of Changes

Please remember that this guide does not include every food that may be served.

Milk Component: For adults and children two years old and older, only fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1%) milk are creditable. One year olds must be served whole milk. If a non-dairy beverage is served instead of milk, it must meet nutritional standards specified in Policy Memo DOH-CACFP Number 161 (07/11) Nutrition Requirements of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

Vegetables/Fruits Component: Juice may be served no more than once a day. Jell-O salads are not creditable, even if made with fruit or juice. Cranberry sauce, olives, onions and pickles are not creditable but may be served to enhance a meal. The amount of dried fruit required to meet meal pattern requirements has changed. Now ¼ cup of dried fruit, like apricots, cranberries, prunes or raisins, equals &frac12 cup of fruit.

Grains/Breads Component: Previously, sweet grains and their serving sizes, were listed in a separate section of the Crediting Food guide. Now they are listed in the "not recommended" and "not allowed" sections of the Grains/Breads component list. The following have been added to the list of sweet grains: animal crackers, ginger snaps, Nilla Wafers®, Social Tea®, graham crackers and Teddy Grahams®. Brownies, cake, cupcakes, coffeecake, gingerbread, rice pudding and pound cake are no longer creditable. Chips of any kind are also no longer creditable including tortilla chips. There is a page that lists recommended low-sugar cereals. Some are also whole-grain cereals.

Meat/Meat Alternates Component: Only yogurt that is fat-free or low-fat and is prepared without artificial sweeteners is creditable. American cheese labeled pasteurized process cheese is creditable; however, if labeled "cheese product" or "imitation cheese" it is not creditable.

Infant Foods: For infants over 8 months old, 100% fruit juice is permitted no more than once per day and only at snack; and plain toasted oat cereal (Cheerios®) is the only adult cereal creditable for infants.

Error at the top of page 5 of the guide: The 3rd bullet should say "Sweet-grain products include but are not limited to: doughnuts, pastries, Pop-Tarts, toaster pastries, granola bars, cereal fruit bars, muffins, quickbreads and cookies." Please make this change in your copy of Crediting Foods.

Please take this opportunity to review your menus, or vendor menus, if applicable, to ensure meals contain creditable foods. Meals that do not meet the meal pattern requirements are not eligible for reimbursement. If you have any questions, please call your CACFP nutritionist at 1-800-942-3858, and select option 4.